Chamber Critiques Spring Update: More Spending, Less Red Tape

0:00It's April 29. This is Canada News Today, powered by AI. Canada's Chamber of Commerce and Metropolitan Montreal just weighed in on the spring economic update, saying it misses the mark on cutting red tape. That slows down businesses. They note the deficit lifts $11 billion better than expected, thanks to strong growth and higher oil revenues, but no real fixes for. Regulatory burdens that kill innovation and productivity. The update rolls out over $50 billion in new spending across six years, building on stuff like boosted GST credits, a temporary fuel tax, break, and pushes to train workers for big infrastructure and energy builds. It includes about $6 billion over five years for education and skilled trades, aiming to recruit and hire between $80,000 and $100,000 skilled folks. Business leaders are praising the fiscal discipline in tough global times and like the new strong Canada fund that mixes public cash, private, investment, and citizen buy-in for

1:02major projects. Still, they're frustrated with a slow pace on reforms, as compliance costs hit billions and promise changes lag behind. The Chamber backs efforts on workforce skills, capital access, and trade diversity, but flags housing costs, talent shortages, and mismatched. Immigration policies between federal and provincial levels as major growth blockers. They want duplication slashed and a full modernization to make business quicker and investment friendly. All this highlights the tightrope Ottawa walks between spending big and easing rules to spark real economic fire.